Tart Cherry Pie Filling

With cherries ripening and brightening up orchard trees now is the time to be looking for a good pie recipe to use those fresh cherries in! My family and I picked the red cherries off of the trees last night, so today has been spent pitting the cherries and putting them away in the freezer for the months ahead.

I didn’t use all of the cherries to make cherry pie filling {I simply froze some in 2 or 4 cup quantities in plastic freezer bags}, but I did make sure to whip up a couple of batches of the pie filling to freeze. This makes pie making a breeze when you can pull the already made filling out of the freezer, pop it in a pie shell and wa-lah…homemade pie in no time! Try this recipe out with some of your fresh tart cherries and let me know how you like it! -Shelley.

In a large mixing bowl add washed and pitted cherries. Add remaining ingredients and then mix together. Either place filling in a pie dough lined pie plate, top with dough and bake or place the filling in a quart sized freezer bag. Label and freeze for later use.

*Tip: I like to nicely stack the produce I am freezing in the freezer bags for nicer looking and more useful storage space.

If you are wanting to bake the pie right away, place filling in un-baked pie shell. Top with another crust, flute and crimp the edges and vent top crust with a few pretty slits. If desired, use an egg wash {1 egg + 1 t water whisked together} and brush on the top crust and then sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn down oven to 375 degrees and bake for another 40-45 minutes or until top crust is a nice golden brown.